The present invention relates to an information providing system and a method, more particularly, to an information providing system and a method for providing information, which is received from an outside information center, to a driver of a vehicle.
In recent years, it has been proposed to utilize a navigation apparatus as an information providing system, of a vehicle, which enables a driver to request local information such as weather or traffic conditions at a destination area to an information center to receive desired information which is displayed over a display screen in a manner as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication NO. 2000-121375.
In such a structure, it is possible for the driver to confirm displayed information for studying a route to be altered or a destination area to be altered.
However, in the structure described above, since the display screen immediately displays the contents of received information when it is received from the information center, the display of received information forcibly calls for the driver""s attention in spite of driving the vehicle in any circumferential situation, with a difficulty caused in paying a careful attention to the circumferential situation.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an information providing system and a method, for providing information to a driver of a vehicle, which enables a driver to confirm a circumferential situation in a frontal area of the vehicle during a traveling condition before confirming received information.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information providing system of a vehicle providing information from an outside section to the vehicle is provided with: a communication section making a request to the outside section for transmitting a pre-selected service information and receiving the requested service information from the outside section; a memory section storing the requested service information received from the outside section; an information providing section providing the received information stored in the memory section; a light emitting section located in a frontal visible area of the vehicle; and a control section controlling the information providing section and the light emitting section. Here, the control section turns on the light emitting section for a first time interval when the requested service information is received and after that, allows the information providing section to provide the stored service information.
Besides, in the present invention, a method of providing information from an outside section to a vehicle requests a pre-selected service information to the outside section; receives the requested service information from the outside section; stores the received service information; provides the stored information in the vehicle; emits a light at a frontal visible area of the vehicle; and controls a timing at which the light is emitted and a timing at which the stored information is provided. Here, the light is emitted for a first time interval when the requested service information is received and after that, the stored service information is provided.
Other and further features, advantages, and benefits of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings.